Portable mobile communications devices such as mobile phones are becoming more sophisticated and include many new features and capabilities. One such feature is the inclusion of digital camera/video technology into the portable mobile communication device. Many portable mobile communication devices even offer video-conferencing as a feature. Video-conferencing allows users to see and speak to each other simultaneously. Obviously, to see and be seen by the other user, the portable mobile communication device must have a camera lens positioned on the same side of the portable mobile communication device as the display screen. This is the opposite configuration for standard digital photography that uses the display screen as a viewfinder for taking photographs. Thus, when taking pictures, the camera lens should be on the opposite side of the display screen.
To date, portable mobile communication devices that offer both digital photography and video-conferencing have had to include two digital camera mechanisms. One is mounted opposite the display screen for photography purposes and the other is mounted on the same side as the display screen for video-conferencing purposes. Two camera devices, however, take up additional valuable internal space within the portable mobile communication device. What is needed is an apparatus that can utilize a single camera device to operate in both a digital camera and video-conferencing mode. Such a configuration would be more cost effective than using additional camera modules and more electrically and mechanically reliable than swiveling the entire mechanism (including a portion of the exterior housing of the device).